HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

California Environmentalists: Bees Are Now Fish

Views:1027
@ReasonVids

The state's Endangered Species Act doesn't protect insects, so environmentalists and government officials intent on helping bees had to get creative.
---------
https://reason.com/

For the past few years, government officials and agricultural groups in California have been fighting over the question: Are bees fish?

The California Court of Appeal for the 3rd District ruled on May 31 that, legally, they are.

At the heart of this issue is the state's Endangered Species Act, which prohibits the import, export, possession, purchase, sale, or killing of listed species. Roughly 250 plant and animal species are protected by the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).

In 2018, environmentalists petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to add four bumblebee species to the list of at-risk plants and animals governed and protected by the CESA. The Commission provided notice in 2019 that the four bumblebee species were candidates for CESA protection.

Birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, plants, and fish are categories of endangered species eligible for protection in California, but insects aren't. So how did state officials, at the behest of environmental groups, end up getting those bumblebees added?

By declaring them fish!

Citrus growers, almond producers, and other large agricultural groups in the state that would be affected by the classification quickly filed a lawsuit, but the appeals court agreed with the classification—bees are fish.

So what is a fish? According to the CESA, the word refers to "a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals."

The key word there is invertebrate. Because they don't have backbones, the appeals court ruled that bumblebees could reasonably be designated as fish since the word is considered a "term of art," meaning it has a definition within a specific field that diverges from common usage.

"We certainly agree section 45 is ambiguous as to whether the Legislature intended for the definition of fish to apply to purely aquatic species," the court's decision explains. "A fish, as the term is commonly understood in everyday parlance, of course, lives in aquatic environments." Because a snail (a terrestrial invertebrate) was previously listed under the act "and could have qualified as such only within the definition of fish," the court opted to liberally construe the act and the Legislature's intent when drafting it.

A problem with this reasoning is that it "seriously undercuts the idea that law is supposed to be clear and accessible to ordinary people," notes George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin. The average person has a particular understanding of what the word fish means and, when reading the law, "would be hard-pressed to figure out that harming bees is a no-no."

And yet, any farmer who harms or kills one of these protected bees could be punished with fines or have their pesticide permits rescinded. That could prove problematic since farmers will have to distinguish the four protected types of bees from the 21 other bumblebee species that can be found in California.

The court's ruling might also empower activists to further stretch the legal definitions of the CESA as they try to get more critters protected. The California Fish and Game Commission "may list any invertebrate as an endangered or threatened species" if the invertebrate meets the requirements of the relevant statutes, the court ruled.

Ladybugs, scorpions, moths, butterflies. Maybe someday they can be fish, too.

Editing and graphics by Isaac Reese; additional editing by Danielle Thompson

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for Great Moments in Unintended Consequences (Vol. 8)2:33
    Great Moments in Unintended Consequences (Vol. 8)
    ReasonVids
    1043 views
    Thumbnail for Disturbing Video Shows Walgreens Pharmacist Refusing To Fill Man's Ivermectin Prescription3:49
    Disturbing Video Shows Walgreens Pharmacist Refusing To Fill Man's Ivermectin Prescription
    AOU
    2803 views
    Thumbnail for Why Merrick Garland Should NOT Be on the Supreme Court3:04
    Why Merrick Garland Should NOT Be on the Supreme Court
    ReasonVids
    919 views
    Thumbnail for Justin Amash on Quitting the GOP: ‘It’s Nice to Be Happy and Free’20:43
    Justin Amash on Quitting the GOP: ‘It’s Nice to Be Happy and Free’
    ReasonVids
    865 views
    Thumbnail for Jonah Goldberg on The Tyranny of Cliches, Creating NRO, and the Firing of John Derbyshire30:24
    Jonah Goldberg on The Tyranny of Cliches, Creating NRO, and the Firing of John Derbyshire
    ReasonVids
    906 views
    Thumbnail for 'Can you be TOO SMART to be a police officer? Yes, you can!'2:54
    'Can you be TOO SMART to be a police officer? Yes, you can!'
    ReasonVids
    713 views
    Thumbnail for Cop is so stupid he records himself deleting video evidence off of his victims phone on his own bodycam1:00
    Cop is so stupid he records himself deleting video evidence off of his victims phone on his own bodycam
    bestofpoal
    1072 views
    Thumbnail for How can I talk politics with my earnest lefty friends without them screaming at me?2:35
    How can I talk politics with my earnest lefty friends without them screaming at me?
    ReasonVids
    971 views
    Thumbnail for What If You Fell from an Airplane Into Fresh Snow? | What If5:51
    What If You Fell from an Airplane Into Fresh Snow? | What If
    invidious
    244 views
    Thumbnail for Adolf Hitler "If you think my work was righteous, if you believe that I have been diligent [...] cast your vote now [...] STAND WITH ME JUST AS I HAVE ALWAYS STOOD WITH YOU!"4:53
    Adolf Hitler "If you think my work was righteous, if you believe that I have been diligent [...] cast your vote now [...] STAND WITH ME JUST AS I HAVE ALWAYS STOOD WITH YOU!"
    NachtWaffen
    980 views
    Thumbnail for Condoms, Porn, and L.A.'s Measure B: The Most Bizarre Ballot Initiative of 20125:46
    Condoms, Porn, and L.A.'s Measure B: The Most Bizarre Ballot Initiative of 2012
    ReasonVids
    905 views
    Thumbnail for cant hide the frank and beans8:50
    cant hide the frank and beans
    Terrence Popp
    1153 views
    Thumbnail for Trump Diminishes the Power of the State in Our Heads: Wired Co-Founder Louis Rossetto15:29
    Trump Diminishes the Power of the State in Our Heads: Wired Co-Founder Louis Rossetto
    ReasonVids
    963 views
    Thumbnail for How Portland's Protests Drifted into ‘Dangerous Territory’4:24
    How Portland's Protests Drifted into ‘Dangerous Territory’
    ReasonVids
    957 views
    Thumbnail for The Battle for Free Speech on Campus: Greg Lukianoff at the Museum of Sex52:05
    The Battle for Free Speech on Campus: Greg Lukianoff at the Museum of Sex
    ReasonVids
    973 views
    Thumbnail for 3 Ways to Make Obamacare Less Totally Horrible2:24
    3 Ways to Make Obamacare Less Totally Horrible
    ReasonVids
    845 views
    Thumbnail for Remy Shows Cardi B Where Her Taxes Go (Bodak Yellow Parody)1:40
    Remy Shows Cardi B Where Her Taxes Go (Bodak Yellow Parody)
    ReasonVids
    857 views
    Thumbnail for Marrying into power. 1:12
    Marrying into power.
    bestofupgoat
    145 views
    Thumbnail for Why Millennials and Gen Z Hate Boomers4:56
    Why Millennials and Gen Z Hate Boomers
    ReasonVids
    880 views
    Thumbnail for Is this the real reason they hate Assange so much?0:31
    Is this the real reason they hate Assange so much?
    bestofsaidit
    895 views
    Thumbnail for I Try Every Massager on Wish... | PewDiePie15:28
    I Try Every Massager on Wish... | PewDiePie
    invidious
    414 views
    Thumbnail for "My Roommate Pays All The Bills" Episode 5 | @biggjah @JayAliMusic | Bigg Jah13:27
    "My Roommate Pays All The Bills" Episode 5 | @biggjah @JayAliMusic | Bigg Jah
    invidious
    347 views
    Thumbnail for What do you think about the blacks?0:30
    What do you think about the blacks?
    bestofupgoat
    91 views
    Thumbnail for Guess the 350Z Owner | Donut Media15:06
    Guess the 350Z Owner | Donut Media
    invidious
    323 views
    Thumbnail for Larry Summers Calls Milton Friedman a "Devil Figure"0:33
    Larry Summers Calls Milton Friedman a "Devil Figure"
    ReasonVids
    876 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle